Seeking Portable Solution for Rapidly Cooling 10 Tons of Water from 100°C to 30°C for Transport

3GJ = 817kWh of energy.

And you plan to just waste this energy - think again !

If you want more helpful offers you need to explain a LOT more.

Who are you (engineer, student, etc etc), what's the project,what's the environment. How often, is there a budget ?

The classic way to dump this amount of heat energy is use a cooling tower where you let the water cascade down over bumps through air. The tower is designed so that convection will make the warmed air rise up through it so at least the air pumping energy comes out of the heat from the water. You still need a pump to get the water up to the top and all the energy in the water is wasted.

MK

We're working in an arid mining environment where we need to pump out wastewater from a thermal power station, which comes out at around 100°C. Unfortunately, our pump can't handle this high temperature and risks fracturing, so we've had to leave the hot water behind to cool naturally. As a temporary solution, I thought using collapsible water tanks to store the water while it cools might work, even though the initial cost could be covered.

As an engineering intern, I’ve been tasked with finding a better solution. I consulted with a few engineers, but they all suggested similar ideas, which might not be feasible for the large volume of water we deal with. I’m now exploring whether there's a chemical or alternative solution that could work, but it seems like it might be quite expensive, especially for something portable. 5000 usd is the budget. But if it is really good solution we can increase it they said

What country are you in ? I ask because there can be issues with providing engineering advice across borders !

You need to start by defining the parameters of your problem properly. Asking for advice without specifying those parameters will not get you good results.

How much of this hot water must you get rid of ?

Is it a continuous flow or intermittent. Why do you need to take it away at all.

How toxic is the water ?

And so on.

MK

We're dealing with clean, but very hot, water that’s stored in a well after being used in a heating process. When we try to pump it out, the high temperature poses a risk to the pump, which isn't designed to handle such heat. Our current method of adding more water to cool it down isn't working well, as it just increases the volume that needs treatment and doesn't sufficiently lower the temperature.

We're exploring alternative solutions that can efficiently cool the water without adding more volume, and we're particularly interested in portable systems that could be integrated into our existing process. I am in Mongolia's gobi.

maybe some heat exchanger? like a cooling tower michaelkellett  have suggested - or if water loss from evaporation is of concern maybe some closed system with heat exchange using cold water (if available) or the air?

First issue: 100C water is steam, so you must be less than that.  100C isn't very hot overall, I'd look for a better pump.

What kind of treatment do you need to perform on clean water that is steam as rsc points out?

Basically you need to transfer energy from water to air, but there is also an option to dump energy into evaporation. You have 3 main options: conduction, convection and latent heat of evaporation. Convection and latent heat require maximizing the water surface exposed to air, conduction requires maximizing the water surface area exposed to the heat conductor and of course the heat conductor needs the maximum surface exposed to air. There are lots of ways to increase surface area of water and air and you will need fans to increase the amount of air extracting heat. If you can't find a pump to move the water, you might be able to use heat pipes. There are numerous heat exchanger systems that are designed to do all this stuff. If you want it to work quickly, it will need to be large.

It would be ideal if you could harness the energy in the hot water to dive the entire cooling system using something like a Stirling engine or a Peltier device.

Although hot water can be tough on equipment, there is lots of equipment designed to handle hot water.

If you want portability and ready to use tones of energy to cool it. I would recommend to go with helium based cooling solution. Maybe there are some product that might be available online.

www.nanomagnetics-inst.com/.../nmi-cryostat:--cryogen-free-ultra-low-vibration-cryostat

compressed air votex based cooling

https://airtx.com/cooling/vortex-tubes/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwcHljdn5hwMViqpmAh2ItTzxEAAYASAAEgKgDfD_BwE

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to follow up and clarify the situation I previously described regarding the challenges we're facing with water management at a thermal power plant.

The Core Problem:

• Fractured Water Tunnels: We've identified that the water transport tunnels from the thermal power plant have fractures. This is causing hot water to leak into an underground concrete tank, which is situated above the heat line.

• Temperature Escalation: Over time, this water, which starts at temperatures close to 100°C, cools down slightly during transfer, but it still maintains a temperature of about 80°C when it reaches the tank. The tank itself has a small hole, which prevents the water from cooling off naturally and instead allows it to retain, or even gradually increase, its temperature.

Operational Challenge:

• Vacuum Truck Limitations: Our current vacuum trucks aren’t equipped to handle such high temperatures. Vacuuming hot water means also vacuuming hot air, which leads to technical failures in the trucks. As a workaround, we've been adding cold water to bring down the temperature before vacuuming, but this isn’t efficient. The water left behind in the tank heats up again by the time the truck returns, leading to water waste and increased operational costs.

Proposed Solutions:

1. Cooling Before Vacuuming:

   • Implementing a heat transfer system or portable chillers to cool the water quickly.
   • Using collapsible tanks to store hot water temporarily, though this solution isn’t ideal in urgent situations.
   • Exploring the use of non-toxic chemical cooling agents.

2. Vacuuming While Hot:

   • Considering a switch to vacuum trucks that can withstand temperatures above 80°C.
   • Adding insulation to the vacuum lines to manage heat transfer better.
   • Using specialized pumps for hot liquids, separate from the main vacuum system.

Additional Insights Needed:

I'm seeking further insights to refine these solutions or explore new ones. Specifically:

• Temporary Cooling Methods: Any field-tested cooling methods that can be deployed quickly and effectively.
• High-Temperature Vacuum Systems: Recommendations on vacuum systems or pumps designed for handling high-temperature liquids.
• Emergency Solutions: Any innovative or unconventional approaches that could be effective in urgent scenarios.

Thanks again to everyone who has already provided feedback. I hope this clarification helps, and I’m eager to hear any additional advice you might have!